Unable to put on helmet, Manning can't practice

ALBANY - He walked up to the cafeteria with a large bandage on his forehead, and reporters and television cameras rushed to surround him.

"Cut myself shaving," he joked, pointing to the "Red Badge of Courage" headgear.

Eli Manning? No, it was center Shaun O'Hara having a little fun at the expense of his stitched-up quarterback. Several other offensive linemen also showed up for lunch with gauze and tape on their foreheads.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Manning said when asked about the show of mock solidarity.

Manning is healthy enough to play football, but he cannot because putting on a helmet would irritate and possibly open the 12 stitches needed to close a 3-inch cut along his hairline suffered in Monday's game against the Jets.

He spent yesterday's practice wearing a baseball cap - he refused to remove it while speaking with the media to allow anyone a glance at the wound - and throwing a little on the side. But mostly he was just watching. Tom Coughlin said that Manning will not play in Saturday's preseason game against the Steelers.

"I might go out there and throw some and just keep loose and then we'll just have to see kind of week by week what I can do, when I can put a helmet on, if I can't put on a helmet," Manning said before the practice. "I should be able throw one-on-one or seven-on-seven, do some of that stuff but be careful about not opening up the stitches."

The Giants figured they would be without Manning this week after he bled all over New Meadowlands Stadium. Complicating matters more was backup Jim Sorgi sitting out practice with sore ribs and a sore shoulder. That left Rhett Bomar as the only quarterback able to participate. Coughlin said he couldn't remember practicing with just one healthy quarterback.

"Lousy," was how he described it. Coughlin said he does not think the soreness Sorgi is feeling is a long-term problem. "But what do I know?" he added.

He'll know more today because the Giants sent Sorgi to the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan for an MRI on the shoulder. It's the same one that had him on IR late last season with the Colts and gave the Giants pause before signing him.

Meanwhile, the team agreed to terms Wednesday with rookie quarterback Dom Randolph, his agent said. Randolph is expected to help Bomar at today's practice.

"I know we're a little bit banged up at quarterback right now,'' Bomar said, "but whenever I go in, I go in. I'm just going to play it by ear all week. If I do [play more], that's great. I need it. I need all the reps I can get."

Coughlin said he is consulting with the team doctors and NFL rules to see what Manning is allowed to do on the field without a helmet. Wednesday he just took snaps while working on center-quarterback exchanges with O'Hara and threw during footwork drills with Bomar.

Manning said wearing the helmet will not be the issue. Sliding it on and off will be.

"[The cut] is kind of high enough where if you wear a helmet, it kind of hits you lower in the forehead, so it wouldn't be right on the stitches," he said. "So I don't think it will be too painful to wear a helmet, but we're just being safe right now."